Cook: Open Carry Advocate Mocks AG McDaniel In Hitler Parody

An advocate of allowing the “open carry” of handguns is attempting to embarrass Attorney General Dustin McDaniel by turning to an unlikely spokesperson – Adolf Hitler.

Some open carry advocates believe Act 746 allows for the open carry of weapons in public. However, Dustin McDaniel recently gave a legal opinion that the new law does not allow for open carry, which raised the ire of some who thought their deceitful bill had pulled one over on the State Legislature.

In early August, a YouTube video was posted by an open carry advocate who used a scene from the movie “Downfall,” which chronicles the last days of Hitler, and superimposed new subtitles.

This type of parody using the now famous “Downfall” clip has been done tens of thousands of times on YouTube. This, however, was the first time I saw someone use Hitler as the spokesperson for a cause they were advocating. In this version, they have Hitler criticizing McDaniel for legally opining that that Act 746 doesn”t allow for open carry. Odd way to score points for your side in an argument.

The video was posted by “skan less” and has made the rounds of some Arkansas open carry websites and online forums. I haven”t yet discovered the identity of the the poster.

I sent the clip to the Attorney General”s Office for comment and received this reply from McDaniel”s Communications Director, Aaron Sadler:

“Since the Attorney General’s legal opinions have already been met with armed protests, hateful rhetoric and inaccuracies, this kind of ridiculous response is not surprising. However, it’s baffling why anyone would advocate their policy positions by using Hitler and a roomful of Nazis, even if in parody.”

Let me first say, I don”t believe open carry advocates are Nazis sympathizers, support Hitler or anything of the like. This YouTube video could have been done by just one knucklehead with a laptop and an Internet connection, so it doesn”t mean open carry supporters support the video.

With all that said, I will note that some folks who do claim Act 746 allows for open carry were less than truthful throughout the legislative process. In fact, I will say the passage of Act 746 was grounded in deceit. Or, at a minimum, gross incompetence by the bill”s sponsor, State Rep. Denny Altes and possibly the bill”s co-sponsors.

House Bill 1700 (Act 746) was literally presented in the 2013 legislative session as a technical clean-up to laws surrounding carrying a handgun and other weapons in certain places.

In fact, when Altes presented HB 1700 before the House in March, he started in his very brief speech with this sentence: “This is mostly clean-up language from the state police.” You can even of Altes” presentation of the bill here.

Altes” entire House presentation took less than 60 seconds and just covered so-called technical corrections. Altes never mentioned this bill could lead to a dramatic change to Arkansas”s culture and way of life by allowing people to openly carry a weapon on their hip and do away with the need for concealed carry licenses.

Immediately after the session adjourned for the year, “open carry” advocates began a game of “nanny nanny boo boo” by claiming they pulled a fast one and that Act 746 was actually an open carry bill in disguise.

Many who supported and/or voted for the original bill felt they were blatantly lied to, and in fact, in many ways they were.

I served in the military. I support the Second Amendment and support concealed carry laws, with reasonable restrictions. But for many “open carry” supporters, that”s not good enough. If you disagree with them, such as Speaker Davy Carter and President Pro-temp Michael Lamoureux have done, then you”re branded as “anti-gun” and “anti-self defense” just because you don”t think someone needs to have a Glock openly strapped to their hip when shopping for milk at the grocery store.

The YouTube cannot be attributed to all open carry advocates. But some folks could learn to disagree without being so disagreeable.